Work lights or shop lights are useful lighting devices having wide applications for providing illumination in rugged environments such as workshops, garages, campsites, and many other places. Given the rugged environment in which the lights are used in, it is generally required that the work light have a robust construction such that the light source is not damaged or broken during use.
Common work lights use a variety of different lighting sources to provide illumination. For instance, incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs are common lighting sources used in the work light. While such bulbs are capable of providing sufficient illumination, they have the shortcoming of being fragile and, therefore, requiring relatively large or bulky housings to protect the bulbs from breakage. For instance, incandescent light bulbs, such as a 60-watt light bulb, are often used in work lights, but require bulky, cage structures surrounding the bulb for protection. While the cage may provide limited protection to the bulb, it still does not prevent the bulb from breaking if the work light is dropped. Moreover, the bulky cage structure limits the areas the work light can be used in because its large size prevents the incandescent work light from being used in tight or other confined spaces. Similarly, the fluorescent light bulb, such as the gas-filled, tube light, may be more compact in size than the incandescent bulb, but such bulbs are still very fragile and, therefore, also require extensive protection. In many cases, the protection surrounding the fluorescent light bulb is much larger in terms of its diameter as compared to the diameter of the fluorescent tube itself. As a result, the fluorescent work light also has a limited use in confined spaces. Therefore, while the fluorescent bulb may be narrow, the combination of the bulb or bulbs and required particular housing is quite large, particularly, in the radial direction transverse to the axis of the fluorescent tube.
Other attempts at work lights use LEDs as the light source. The LED or light emitting diode is a very compact and an efficient, solid state light source that is less fragile than incandescent or fluorescent glass lights, but still provides sufficient illumination, especially when several LEDs are grouped together. As a result, work lights using LEDs may be smaller than incandescent or fluorescent work lights, and also generally require smaller housings encasing the LEDs therein. Current work lights that use LEDs as the light source generally seek to take advantage of the sturdier construction of the LED itself and incorporate less robust housings or casings for the lighting device. In that regard, many housings for LED work lights are fabricated from multiple components, which may compromise the integrity and strength of the housing. For instance, in practice it is believed a typical LED work light housing will include a cylindrical casing assembly that surrounds the LEDs via two elongate semi-cylindrical casing parts that are attached at two part lines 180° spaced from each other about the cylindrical casing assembly. Further, a separate end cap is utilized to enclose the free end of the cylindrical casing assembly. By having a three-piece casing assembly, the semi-cylindrical and end cap housing parts can be more readily formed of high strength material; nevertheless, such a configuration can create areas of weakness at the joints or interfaces between the semi-cylindrical casing parts and the end cap attached thereto that compromises the overall strength of the work light. Moreover, such multiple casing components also require more complicated supply chains, the fabrication of more parts, and the additional assembly step of combining all the parts.
When not being held, it is common for the work light to be set down on the floor or a flat, work or support surface like on a table. Prior cylindrically configured work lights can roll when placed down on a flat support surface. Often, in addition to the curved light casing, the work lights also have curved handle surfaces, which may provide a comfortable grip, but also permit the light to easily roll upon a support surface. It can be aggravating to have the work light roll beyond one's reach and potentially damaging to the work light should it be placed on a raised table work surface and then roll thereon to where the work light falls off the table.
Therefore, it is desired to obtain a simplified LED work light having a compact and robust construction. In addition, a work light having a generally cylindrical configuration that does not roll along work surfaces would be desirable.